sarahrasher Comic Reviews

There's a lot to like about All-New Wolverine, and it promises an exciting and coherent ongoing story. Laura is not yet as sharply drawn or as iconic as her predecessor, though. I'd love for the current generation of geeky ten-year-old spitfires to see themselves in her the way I saw myself in Logan. But Laura and the writer and artists creating her are not as certain of her identity as Logan always was of his own, and that makes her a hard character to latch onto.

It's not breaking any new ground " and at times seems unaware of how derivative it is " but it's fun, and worth getting in on early, before too much backstory piles up.

If you're a Star Trek fan but don't bother with the IDW comics, you're missing out: they're what you love about the franchise, only with more consistent characterization and less cringe-worthy dialogue. If Trek has never been your jam, but you like an old-fashioned space adventure, you'll be a little lost but still might have fun with the well-paced disaster plot and strong characterization. As the start of a short, action-driven arc with little reliance on the franchise's broader mythology, Star Trek #46 is a newbie-friendly entry point to the ongoing series, and the final image of an entangled Enterprise will leave you hungry for a conclusion.

Despite these quibbles, Star Trek #48 continues the ongoing series' trend of entertaining, well-composed stories that capture the essence of Trek. There are a few cute nods to the continuity of the greater Trek universe but even if you're not a big Trek fan, this arc is an excellent starting point. It's not just a strong tie-in, but an engaging sci-fi adventure.

The crossover's premise is cool enough that I really wish it worked.A fan-favorite villain from the pre-rebootStar Trekmovies makes a welcome appearance, but he feels wasted so far. If you're looking for yourStar Trekfix, stick to the excellent ongoing series. If you're here for Green Lantern, you'll see so little of him here that you'll feel ripped off. It's too bad, because with a lighter touch and less ambitious mythology, this could have been a fun crossover.

That's a smart choice, because at its heart, The Spire is a murder mystery. Spurrier takes his time leading us through The Spire's world before we arrive at the dead body, but when we get there, it feels like a natural progression, not a genre break. Sh (the one with the eyepatch) gets enough character development that, by the time she's saddled with the task of solving the crime, we know her as a person, not just as a plot device. I'm not sure how Spurrier and Stokely cram so much into thirty pages, but I'm impressed, and eager to see how the big reveals in the final few panels will fit into the larger picture.

Gwenpool isn't perfect, and it's not for everybody. I'm still not sure whether it's a step forward for female-led comics, or if it's wryly undermining its own feminism. Gwenpool herself is a grating character, a little too anti-heroic for readers who prefer to relate or aspire to their heroes. But it's cool and clever, and it manages to take self-referentiality in a different direction than Marvel titles usually do. Even if you doubt Gwenpool is your cup of tea, you owe it to yourself to get your hands on this first issue.

Fortunately, the second half of Wayward #9 promises more excitement to come. It introduces a creepy new villain whose origin and alliances call the hero team's plans into question. Then, Rori Lane returns to help several plotlines converge (no hints about those first six pages, though) and to use her powers toward a major change that might be necessary but might just be cruel. The final two pages, each dominated by a single image and nearly text-free, show that Cummings is more skilled at conveying narrative than Zub. They're packed with meaning and provide a great pay-off for an episode in Wayward #8 that seemed like a side quest. Despite the slow start, this installment left me hopeful for a delightfully weird climax to this chapter of Wayward. But if you're not already following the series, now is not the best time to jump in: you'll be confused, not only about the story itself, but about why readers like me are sticking with it.